The marriage of rock and TV has never been a comfortable one. When I think back to Shindig and Hullaballoo of the mid-Sixties, I have to marvel at what fun they seemed at the time, how exciting it was to see the Stones and the Kinks and how we actually believed Sonny & Cher singing "I Got You Babe" were in puppy love just like us pubes watching. And I have to wonder if it wasn't the magic of the times superceding the (mixed) media or merely that Shindig's appeal has grown as it recedes through the rosy mists of nostalgia.

Because what rock TV has mostly meant in the '70s is Friday Night's Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, both of which suggest that in seeking to exploit each other for mutual profit, rock and TV have merely succeeded in cancelling each other out. Because (1) live rock has never been recorded right for TV, and probably never will be; (2) both shows have tended to recycle the same groups— e.g., Earth Wind & Fire ana Black Oak Arkansas—over and over again; and (3) and possibly most important, nothing outrageous can ever be allowed on TV; due to ridiculous codes and the nature of the medium itself, TV is the land of the bland, so since rock 'n' roll is or should be outrageous by definition, its appearance on TV has got to be either anomalous or result in dilution.